CSBG Archive

Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines, Day 254: The Irredeemable Ant-Man #12

Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. Today’s page is from The Irredeemable Ant-Man #12, which was published by Marvel and is cover dated November 2007. Enjoy!

Good ol' Recap Ant!

The final issue of The Irredeemable Ant-Man begins with this page, which I would have skipped if it was just a recap page, but because it features the recap and the first panel of the issue, I figured I had to use it. Unfortunately, this means that there’s really not a lot to talk about. Recap Ant there, who shows up as the Greek chorus in each issue to, well, recap things, isn’t happy about the book’s cancellation. He gives us what’s been happening and then explains that he’s going to die, because “a world without an Ant-Man book isn’t a world worth living in. Your opinions may vary.” Kirkman does this throughout the book’s brief existence – Recap Ant is very tongue-in-cheek, and the entire comic has a nice, wacky sensibility. Eric O’Grady is a jerk, after all, so even though he wears the Ant-Man armor and can do all sorts of cool stuff, he’s not a hero by any stretch. We see his irreverent attitude in Panel 1, where he says “you bet your butt it’s filed” and claims his name is “Agent Spruce.” If you’re just picking up the book, Recap Ant and that dialogue by Eric (I suppose newcomers might not know it’s Eric, but it’s not that hard to figure out) give you everything you need to know about Eric’s character. He’s a jerk.

Phil Hester has very little to do. I guess he draws a nice-looking dying ant, and Eric has a good shit-eating smirk on his face (because he’s conning his way into seeing the prisoner, after all). He’s holding the ID card oddly – if you’re showing an ID card to people, wouldn’t you hold it between your thumb and index finger? I don’t know why Hester put it between his index and middle fingers. It’s weird. As this is the ultra-modern S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, Staples colors it in suave and slick green. It has no charm, which is kind of the point.

So, yeah – this isn’t the best first page, but that’s because Kirkman decided to eschew the “normal” Marvel recap page and give us the ant. Recap Ant was pretty fun, though, so I guess it’s not a bad thing that he showed up!

I got a few more e-mails from readers who have given me first pages to feature in October, but I can still take more! I have more days to fill! My e-mail address is gregorymburgas@gmail.com. Don’t be a square, man!

Next: A horror comic that starts fine but goes a but off the rails at the end. Yes, that describes so many of them. Too bad! Find a few other scary comics in the archives!

Dean

Ian A.

Dean, I think they got shaved off during his time as a Thunderbolt. Clearly, that was a mistake.

There’s still time to grow ‘em back, of course. Unless he gets killed. Again.

I miss this series. It was fun, so it was doomed. The trade is worth picking up. Maybe it’ll become a collector’s item now that Kirkman’s all famous? Maybe not, but that’s no reason to miss out on an entertaining read.